Balanced well pump



NOV. 24, 1953 w, PORTER 2,660,124

BALANCED WELL PUMP Filed Sept. 28, 1951 1 IN VENTOR Mum/1 H P0972? Patented Nov. 24, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BALANCED WELL PUMP William H. Porter, Phoenix, Ariz.

Application September 28, 1951, Serial No. 248,819

3 Claims.

This invention relates to well pumps and more particularly to a well pump in which the weight of the water column is counterbalanced and the effort required to operate the pump is only that necessary to lift the water actually discharged from the pump.

Well pumps presently in use have no provision for counterbalancing the weight of the water column extending from near the bottom to the top of the well and the weight of this water column acts downwardly on the pump piston at all times. This necessitates lifting the entire water column each time the pump piston is raised to discharge water from the pump. This is not too great a disadvantage in shallow wells, but seriously interferes with the operation of pumps in deep wells as the weight of the water column in a two inch pipe is over three hundred pounds per one hundred feet of pipe. Lifting such a long water column each time the pump piston is raised to discharge water from the pump not only requires an excessive amount of power or manual effort for operation of the pump, but also imposes heavy strain on the pump mechanism, frequently resulting in damage, such as breaking of the sucker rod of the pump. 7

It is among the objects of the present invention to provide an improved deep well pump in which the weight of the water column on the pump piston is balanced by its weight on another piston acting oppositely to the pump piston and connected thereto; which counterbalanced pump can be installed as a unit in an ordinary well and will discharge water at the same rate as an unbalanced pump at a fraction of the power or effort required to operate the unbalanced pump; which utilizes a single water column for both discharging water and counterbalancing the pump piston; and which is simple and durable in construction, economical to manufacture, and positive and effective in operation.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the following description and the appended claims in conjunction with the accompanying drawing wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevational View of a counterbalanced pump illustrative of the invention;

Figure 2 is a cross sectional view on the line '22 of Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is a cross sectional view on the line '3-3 of Figure 2.

With continued reference to the drawing, the pump comprises a housing, generally indicated at I0, and including a pump cylinder I and a counterbalancing cylinder |2 disposed substantially parallel to the pump cylinder and at substantially the same level. The pump is adapted to be mounted in an upright position in a well below the level of the Water in the well and a flow pipe I3 extends from the upper end of the cylinder longitudinally thereof and to the top of the well where it is provided with a suitable discharge spout or fitting M. An air vent pipe I 5 communicates at its lower end with the interior of the counterbalancing cylinder l2 at the bottom end of the latter and extends upwardly substantially parallel to the flow pipe I3 to a position permanently above the level of the water in the well.

The bottom wall It of the pump cylinder II is provided with an opening l1 and a flap valve I8 is mounted on the inner side of the bottom wall It and pivotally connected to the bottom wall in closing relationship to the opening IT. This flap valve admits water from the well into the pump cylinder I, but precludes passage of water from the pump cylinder through the opening I! back into the well.

The housing I0 is formed to provide a passage 20 which connects the interior of the counterbalance cylinder |2 to the interior of the pump cylinder II at the upper ends of both cylinders and a passage 2| which connects the interior of the pump cylinder at the lower end of the latter to the passage 20 intermediate the length of the latter passage. A valve seat formation 22 is provided in the passage 2| extending transversely thereof and a balanced valve 23 is pivotally mounted on the casing at the valve seat formation 22 and cooperates with the valve seat to admit water from the lower portion of the pump cylinder through the passages 2| and 20 into the upper portion of the pump and counterbalance cylinders.

A pump piston 25 is reciprocably mounted in the pump cylinder and a piston rod or sucker rod 26 extends from the piston 25 upwardly through the flow pipe l3 and through a, packing bearing 2'! disposed at the center of a cap 28 mounted on the upper end of the flow pipe.

A balance piston 30 is reciprocably mounted in the counterbalance cylinder l2 and a piston rod 3| extends upwardly from the piston 30 through a packing bearing 32 mounted in the top wall of the housing l0 substantially parallel to the piston rod 26.

A support 35 is secured at one end to the topwall of the housing I0 and extends upwardly between and substantially parallel to the piston rods 26 and 3| to a location adjacent the upper ends of the piston rods. h

A lever 36 is pivotally mounted intermediate its length on the upper end of the support 35 and is pivotally connected at its respectively opposite ends to the piston rods and 3| through the links 31 and 38 pivotally connected respectively to the upper ends of the rods 26 and 31 and to the lever 36 near the respectively opposite ends of the latter. Preferably, the pistons 25 and are of substantially the same area and the distance between the location at which the lever 36 is pivotally connected to the support 35 and the locations at which the lever is pivotally connected to the upper ends of the rods 25 and 3| are substantially equal, so that the pistons 25 and 30 are constrained to move to the same extent, but in respectively opposite directions.

In operation, upward movement of the pump piston 25 draws water from the well through the valve l8 into the pump cylinder below the piston and subsequent downward movement of the pump piston forces the water in the pump cylinder out of this cylinder past the valve 23' and into the pump and counterbalance cylinders above the pistons 25 and 3t respectively. Continued up and down movement of the piston 25 will draw sufiic'ient water into the pump through the valve 28 to fill both cylinders, as well as the passages 20 and 2|, and the flow pipe is and cause the water to be discharged from the upper end of the how pipe. The weight of the column or water in the how pipe acts equally on the upper sides of the pistons 25 and 35, so that as the pump piston moves up and the balance piston moves down, the weight of the water column on the balance pistonpartially counterbalances the weight of the column on the pum iston and the eiiort required to lift th pump piston does not include the effort necessary to raise the entire water column in the flow pipe. When the pump piston moves down, the balance piston moves upwardly and the weight of the water column is thus prevented from forcing the water piston downwardly at an excessive rate or requiring excessive eiiort to retard the downward movement of the pump piston.

The space below'the balance piston 36 being connected to the atmosphere, this piston is not retarded by any waterpressure at its under side and acts to properly balance the pump piston 25 atall times.

The illustration-of the pump in the accompanyi'ng drawing is entirely diagrammatic, "and it is to be understood that such changes as may be required to provide a pump unit which can be conveniently lowered into a conventional well and connected to the usual flow pipe may be made without in any way exceeding the scope of the invention.

The invention may be embodied in other speci'fic forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiment is, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are, therefore, intended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed is:

1. A well pump comprising a pump cylinder having an upper end and a lower end, a ilow pipe extending upwardly from the upper end of said pump cylinder, a check valve in the lower end of said pump cylinder admitting water into 4 said cylinder while precluding passage of water therefrom through said check valve, a counterbalance cylinder adjacent said pump cylinder and substantially parallel thereto, means providing a first passage providing a fluid connection between the upper ends of said cylinders and a second passage extending from the interior of said pump cylinder at the lower end of the latter fluidly connected with said first passage, a check valve in said second passage admitting water from the lower portion of said pump cylinder through said passages to the upper portions of both cylinders while precluding return flow of water to the lower portion of said pump cylinder, an air vent tube extending upwardly from the lower portion of said counterbalance cylinder along and substantially parallel to said flow pipe and connected to the atmosphere, a pump piston in said pump cylinder, a piston rod extending upwardly from said pump piston through said how pipe, a pump piston in said counterbalance cylinder, a piston rod extending upwardly from said counterbalance piston substantially parallel to said flow pipe, means providing a fixed support disposed between said piston rods above the upper ends of said cylinders, and a lever pivotally connected intermediate its length to said support and pivotally connected adjacent itsends to'said piston rods.

2. A well pump comprising a pump cylinder having an upper end and a lower end, a 'flow pipe extending upwardly from the upper end of said pump cylinder, a check valve in the lower end-of said pump cylinder admitting water into said cylinder while precluding passage of water therefrom through said check valve, a counterbalance cylinder adjacent said pump cylinder and substantially parallel thereto, means providing a first passage providing a fluid connection between the upper ends of said cylinders and a second passage extending from the interior of said pump cylinder at'the lower end of the latter fluidly connected with said first passage, a check valve in said second passage admitting water from the lower portion of said pump cylinder through said passages to the upper portions of both cylinders while precluding return flow of water to the-lower portion of said pump cylinder, an air vent tube extending upwardly from the lower portion of said counterbalance cylinder along and substantially parallel to said flow pipe and connected to the atmosphere, a pump piston in'said pump cylinder, a piston rod extending upwardly'ircm said .p'ump piston through said flow pipe, a pump piston in said counterbalance cylinder, a piston rod extending upwardly from said counterbalance piston substantially parallel to said flow pipe, means providing a fixed support disposed between said piston rods above the upper ends of said cylinders, and a lever pivotally connected intermediate its length to said support and ,pivotally connected adjacent its ends to said piston rods, the last mentioned check valve comprising a valve seat formation disposed transversel'y of said second passage and a flap valve pivotally mounted at said formation and cooperating therewith to limit the flow of water to an upward direction through said secon'dpassage.

8. A well pump comprising a pump cylinder having an upper end and a lower end, a flow pipe extending upwardly from the upper end of said pump cylinder, a check valve in the lower end of said pump cylinder admitting water into said cylinder while precluding passage of water therefrom through said-check valve, a counterbalance cylinder adjacent said pump cylinder and substantially parallel thereto, means providing a first passage providing a fluid connection between the upper ends of said cylinders and a second passage extending from the interior of said pump cylinder at the lower end of the latter fluidly connected with said first passage, a check valve in said second passage admitting water from the lower portion of said pump cylinder through said passages to the upper portions of both cylinders while precluding return flow of water to the lower portion of said pump cylinder, an air vent tube extending upwardly from the lower portion of said counterbalance cylinder along and substantially parallel to said flow pipe and connected to the atmosphere, a pump piston in said pump cylinder, a piston rod extending upwardly from said pump piston through said flow pipe, a pump piston in said counterbalance cylinder, a piston rod extending upwardly from said counterbalance piston substantially parallel to said flow pipe, means providing a fixed support disposed between said piston rods above the upper ends of said cylinders, and a lever pivotally connected intermediate its length to said support and pivotally connected adjacent its ends to said piston rods, said pistons being of substantially the same area and said piston rods being connected to said lever at substantially equal distances from the connection between. said lever and said support so that said pistons move to substantially the same extent in respectively opposite directions.

WILLIAM H. PORTER.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,801 Babbitt Oct. '7, 1842 314,705 Mortensen Mar. 31, 1885 410,456 Shuls Sept. 3, 1889 582,561 Turner May 11, 1897 877,583 McLaughlin Jan. 28, 1908 

